“In Everything Give Thanks!”

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – I Thessalonians 5:18

Thankfulness is easy when things are going well. In trials? It doesn’t come quite so naturally. Yet we’ve been told quite bluntly that we’re to give thanks in everything. In case we’re scratching our heads and wondering if that really is what was meant, it’s been added that “this is the will of God…concerning you!”

God brought this to mind again this past week. Right, again! I need these reminders from time to time. With all we’ve faced this past year, sometimes I’m just tired of the not knowing, of wondering what will happen next. Sometimes, I just want our lives back. Sometimes, I just don’t feel very thankful.

Yet, there it is in black and white: “In everything give thanks.”

Hard to ignore. Impossible to re-interpret. It’s clear. Give thanks!

So there I was in the midst of my ‘whining’ to God about all the unknowns in our lives, and He brings me back to that.

I didn’t see much point in fighting Him. There’s not really any chance of winning that fight! And really, agreeing and obeying brings much more peace! It’s really a no-brainer.

So I stopped in the middle of my whine and said, “Thank You.”

Amazing. The world didn’t change. My circumstances didn’t change. But my attitude did, and with it my outlook. Isn’t that just like God? — The answer to that is a definite YES!

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I have long said, “Where God closes a door, he opens a window.” No matter the trials, I give thanks. I was wiped out in a flood (my possessions), but in the whole town, nobody was seriously hurt! Grateful! I have to move again? At least I’ll be near my grandchildren and my son and his wife. The weather stinks and it’s been snowing for three days? Look at the beauty of it. I am tired. I have a bed to sleep on! And sometimes we pray to God for an answer, and sometimes the answer is, “No.”